A hygienic handling of milk and prevention of bacterial content in the milk is important. One means to this end is a regular cleaning of milking related apparatuses, such as automatic milking stations comprising, among other things, teat cups, a receiver for intermediate storing of milk, one or more pumps and pipelines interconnecting the different parts. All these parts have to be cleansed several times a day in order to fulfil different requirements.
A typical state of the art washing cycle principally includes three steps: a first pre-rinsing step with lukewarm water, a subsequent main washing step utilising hot water including a washing liquid, and finally a rinsing step utilising cold water for eliminating remaining washing liquid. A washing apparatus is typically provided in connection with the milking station for performing such cleaning process, an example of which is disclosed in patent document U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,961.
The washing procedure is a rather time consuming necessity, and a pure loss of production time during which no production, i.e. milking, can be carried through. The washing process comprises several time consuming steps, such as for example, the switching of valves for connecting the milking station to a milking tank and to a washing apparatus, respectively, the warming up of water, the mixing of an appropriate amount of washing liquid, the several circulations needed to obtain the requested cleanness, certain adjusting time between the different steps and so on. Complicated mechanical solutions, for example solutions requiring four-way valves or other multipart devices, much tubing or replacement of parts, also consume a lot of time. Further, the more complicated construction the higher is the maintenance costs, and also the risk of stoppage of production due to failing parts.
The relatively long time needed for cleaning the milking related equipment is thus a shortcoming of the prior art washing apparatuses and methods, and any shortening of the time needed could entail a somehow corresponding increase in production time. It would thus be desirable to render the cleaning procedure more effective by speeding up the process, and it would also be desirable to be able to simplify the same.